Exterior House Color Schemes

Making condos last another 50 years: Part III

This third and last in a series highlighting ways to make your condo home a better place to live longer.

There are a lot of simple practical steps to lengthening the life expectancy of your condominium, which if built in the 1970s or ’80s might be past its expiration date. Each complex, whether it is a four-plex or 400 units, should have its own longevity strategy, often in the form of reserves.

Generally, I try to focus on the three most important categories:

1) Structural integrity;

2) Energy and maintenance management;

3) Adding value.

This discussion could fill a book so I will highlight important examples to get your juices flowing.

Structural integrity is essential to long life: If you have weak bones you may not last. Same with any building, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to predict issues. Look at the horizontal roof fascia/gutter line and the roof ridge, if it has one. If it’s crooked or drooping, the roof or foundation could be failing. Both can be shored up so it’s not terminal. Windows or doors that don’t close may mean settlement of the walls. Ponding water under or around the building, blistering trim, dry rot or deteriorating sidings must be fixed before anything else is done. Chances are the moisture protection was poorly installed or non-existent, so fix that while you’re at it. A roll of bituthene goes a long way when properly applied.

It is ironic that construction wood used 30-40 years ago is generally better than what’s available today. It’s the poor connection techniques and sloppy waterproofing that have left structures at risk.   

Energy and maintenance administration is managing dwindling resources — usually both affecting your wallet. Energy reduction by replacing inefficient windows and doors is obvious but making your landscape perform better is not so apparent.

The standard condo builder’s strategy for over 50 years is to plant lots of fast growing, water guzzling, non-native plants with a lot of turf. It looks good to sell the units but the long term consumption of water, fertilizer and precious maintenance time are budget killers. I’ve visited many condominiums where the daily watering of outdated vegetation was destroying the siding and the HOA budget. Both the landscape aesthetic and style today is to wisely use local native plants and low-flow watering systems. Slowly replacing old fashion plant design with new textures of Chamise, Pacific Acena, Tasred Flax and native grasses will bring any building complex into the 21st century. Although not native, lavenders are a wonderful addition to any garden. This replanting strategy may take longer to mature but they will look sharp and save in the long run — and get rid of the turf.

Selecting the Right Color Scheme for Your Home Exterior « Google ...

Deciding which colors for your home exterior can be a difficult and stressful process. You want your color scheme to be unique, but you don’t want it to stand out from the natural look of the neighborhood. Finding the right mixture of colors that you and your family will be satisfied with is important because it will last for a long time, and you don’t want to pay to have anything replaced or repainted.

To give you some help on where to begin here are a few steps that will help narrow down your selection.

1.) Start by identifying the colors that you like. It’s important to start here because it’s time consuming to go through all of the possible colors available and also it’s your opinion that matters the most for your home. During this step don’t worry so much as to the shading of the colors, just get a feel for what base colors you would like to include.

2.) Look at Your Neighborhood and Permanent Exterior. The next thing to understand is the overall style of your surrounding area. Is the style more contemporary or historic? Find the colors you chose that will fit in well with the style, yet still offer opportunities to be unique. Also observe the permanent exterior surrounding your home, such as any landscaping or natural stone/brick components. Generally red brick parts of your home will offer more flexibility in terms of color selection; gray brick parts of the home will be best matched with a similar neutral color.

3.) Determine the Color Shade – There are several things to consider when selecting the right shading. Darker shades may appear smaller as compared to lighter shades, and also darker shades collect more heat and can fade faster. Using a contrast between dark and light parts of your exterior can be great to make certain areas of your house stand out and appear larger. For a home with a large entryway you may want to consider contrasting the door, or other parts of the entryway, from the rest of the home exterior. This will draw more attention to it.

Here is a list of roof and siding color/shading combinations that tend to work well together, but there are still many combinations that will work.

House Color – Roof Color

Gray/Blue Dark – Gray/Black

Tan – Black/Gray/Dark Brown

White – Dark Color

Red/Green/Yellow – Black/Gray

4.) Finishing Touches. Once all of the main components are in place, it’s time to consider any finishing touches to apply to the home. The focus now is on the trim and outer edges of the exterior. Using a different color/shade for the outside edges can accentuate the architectural layout of your home. This can look great for homes that really want to stand out while still fitting into the surrounding area.

Book of home bvilding and decoration, prepared in cooperation with and vnder the direction of the leading manvfactvrers of the covntry

Exterior House Trim

The perfectly painted house, a foolproof guide for choosing exterior paint colors

Perfect Exterior Staining, A Step-by-Step Guide to Selecting and Applying Beautiful Wood Finishes

Color schemes for exterior house painting